Acceptance
by LunarLacrimosa
Summary: After the change comes acceptance of it. Can Thundercracker accept he might be made an Autobot? Can the Autobots accept Starscream? Can Prowl accept that his Autobots will never be sane? With Megatron still alive and Optimus infected with Cosmic Rust with Perceptor, and the cure, no where in sight anything could happen. Miles/Barricade, possibly other pairings. Sequel to The Change
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** Any newcomers, you'll be severely confused. This is a sequel to _The Change_! First chapter mainly skips to the group back on base, just skimming the flight back, and a few necessary talks. (code for another silly chapter!) I can't imagine Sam and Miles ever being able to have a fully serious conversation, especially not right after they came back to life and are high on life.

* * *

A long fight coupled with a long flight back to their Nevada base wasn't one of the best experiences ever. Before everyone and mech had been tense, waiting for what was to come. Now some were tense for a very different reason, this reason being three large, metal things with wings. If nothing else it did calm the soldiers, and Ironhide, down that the Seekers could fly and they would not be stuck in the air with them in a tiny space. Starscream and Skywarp stuck near Skyfire, flying around the larger Seeker, while Thundercracker flew off a bit on his own, as if giving them the silent treatment.

Starscream and Thundercracker had yet to have their fight, both receiving medical aid and flying with the Autobots to the States. Receiving medical aid would put them both on a level playing field, and if they had the 'bots vouching for them then there was less likely to be the air force of an angry Egyptian country trying to shoot them out of the air. Those were the two main reasons, though there was a third in that Skywarp had demanded they go with the Autobots and then they fight, or otherwise he wasn't watching. As his mate, Thundercracker would want him there to impress him, especially if he managed to defeat Starscream, however unlikely that was.

There was no rest allowed to any of them, all the organic soldiers and mechs piled back in to the various military planes and Skyfire. As soon as they landed in the designated landing area of the base, which was really just an empty space about a mile in front of it, Ratchet and Ironhide were off, dragging a reluctant Optimus behind them, Soundwave following them with his cassetticons and Blaster being commed. The four would attempt to contact, or at least locate Perceptor, the Prime made to sit there because Ratchet didn't want him overexerting himself, and the cassetticons wishing to stay with their creator. Ratchet did pause momentarily to grab Barricade, mumbling something about making sure his spark was stabilizing well after the loss before helping the others.

That left Skyfire stuck with the three Seekers, Bumblebee, Jazz, and Miles. Sam had gone off to help the soldiers tell everyone and mech else the news of the base, scouting for his and Miles' parents in case they were there and ready to throw a fit.

Prowl nodded at Sam as he passed the young organic, heading towards Skyfire and the head trine immediately. Prowl stared at the head trine with wide, surprised optics, utterly flabbergasted at their calm presence on the Autobot base. Thundercracker was the only mech out of the group who looked discontent, sneering at Prowl as the SIC looked them over. Skywarp stood next to Jazz, the two of them talking in an animated manner. Starscream had his arms crossed over his chassis, a bored expression on his face even as he leaned closer to Skyfire to hear what the larger mech was saying better.

"What are _they_ doing here?" Prowl hissed, looking to some semblance of sanity: Bumblebee.

Bumblebee raised an optic ridge, "Optimus didn't tell you? They're under the Treaty of Iacon at the moment, until further decision is made within the trine to determine whether they'll turn Autobot or not. It turns out Starscream really was reprogrammed by Shockwave, and, for lack of a better term, Miles basically reset him. He's in his right mind now."

"Of course it was you," Prowl said dryly, optics immediately going to the teen in question.

"Next time I play with the 'cons I promise I'll try to remember not to bring any back, 'kay?" Miles retorted, smirking, and high fiving Jazz's servo when the Saboteur offered it to him.

"Don't worry, if I win we won't be here long, Autobot." Thundercracker vented sharply, refusing to even look at Starscream and Skywarp. Despite being his sparkmate, Skywarp hardly seemed to care while Starscream frowned sadly.

"How much do you not know?" Bumblebee asked, shooting Miles and Jazz a disapproving look.

"I got a message directly after Prime offlined the Fallen and the Harvester was destroyed, but I would not put much credence in it as I was told that Sam and Miles both have offlined, but I can see with my own optics that Miles is very much alive, and I just saw Sam walk towards one of the military planes where Will and Epps had come off of."

Starscream shuttered his optics in a small amount of surprise, "You really are misinformed, then. I imagined that the Autobots would be a little more put together."

"Ca' yah blame us, Screamer?" Jazz asked with a laugh, "Hide and Ratch ah flippin' their lids tryin' ta figure out how ta contact Perceptor, even draggin' in poor ol' Wave and Blast."

"Why are they trying to contact Perceptor?" Prowl asked, quickly becoming annoyed. He was the SIC, he was supposed to be kept informed about these things!

"The Fallen made sure to give Prime a little surprise, or as the humans would say, he wasn't going down without a fight." Bumblebee's tone was slightly bitter, but he had known Optimus nearly all his life. "He infected Optimus with Cosmic Rust, directly in his Energon lines."

"_WHAT?"_

* * *

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Barricade."

Elizabeth stated it simply, but Barricade didn't necessarily believe her. Sam had been right to guess that his and Miles' parents would be on base already, thankfully a bit more well informed than Prowl just because no one had told them they'd died in the first place until Sam let it slip up. Needless to say, they were pissed, but Elizabeth knew about Barricade from Miles, just enough to know that it was better to go to him, get the full story, and know he was already blaming himself.

Just to be cautious Ratchet wanted to give Barricade's spark an extended period of rest, only allowing the ex-con out in his holoform, even closing down his awareness of his bipedal body and any access to comm links or the world wide web. It was a bit disconcerting, but Barricade didn't have long to be bothered by it, Elizabeth and Bob grabbing him and dragging him into the room they had been given.

Before Barricade had been allowed to say anything Elizabeth had dragged him over to the bed, sitting down on it and manipulating him so he was half laying in her lip, the mother stroking his hair. It was even more disconcerting then being closed off from his bipedal mode, and that had been _before_ Elizabeth had learned of the recent development between Barricade and Miles. Bob was more happy his wife had won the bet, which had piled into quite a bit of money, not nearly as ready as Elizabeth to accept that his son was not even bothering to try and date the same species and just immediately going for a robot. But if Miles was happy, then he'd be happy for him.

"I should. I've done the calculations in my head, if I had just been more careful, watched him better, or been faster-"

Elizabeth put a finger over the holoform's mouth, shushing him. "When Miles was little we used to go to a campground for a small family reunion every year, and one day I had an awful headache and the rest of them went to go horseback riding, but Miles wanted to stay with me to make sure Mommy was okay. I was miserable, it was almost unbearably hot, and there were thousands of birds making a racket, but I couldn't stand to see Miles cooped up inside while I felt bad, so I moved us out back. There was a river, and the banks were sandy. It was a perfect place to relax and keep my boy entertained; he used to love playing there in the sand, collecting shells or rocks, even twigs, and making castles or other odd shapes."

"I don't remember at what point," Elizabeth continued, resuming her stroking of Barricade's hair. "But I said I'd have to get us some ice cream later because of how hot it was. Miles was being such a good boy, sitting and playing in the sand, or splashing around just a bit in the water to cool off, careful not to make too much noise to make sure not to aggravate my head. I got up and went inside to get some Advil, it couldn't have taken me more than five minutes, but when I came back outside he was gone."

Barricade was silent, allowing Elizabeth to share. "So many bad things could have happened to him, Barricade, and they all went through my mind. He could have slipped and fell in the river, be carried away by the current before he could get back out, or could have just gone too far and been swept up in it. Someone could have taken him, or he could have seen some animal and gave chase and gotten lost."

"What happened to him?" Barricade asked softly.

"He'd gone off up to the camp store and used his toy money to buy us ice cream." Elizabeth shook her head with a smile, "There I was in near hysterics, and he just comes walking up with ice cream for me. I could have killed him for doing that to me, I was so worried. Couldn't let him out of my sight for two days after that, headache or not. I just kept thinking how many horrible things could have happened to him, all because I'd taken my eye off him for a moment. That's what you do when you lose someone, even if a hundred and one factors could have been the cause of them getting hurt, you'll always find a way to blame yourself. But if nothing else, he's always good about coming back, even if he doesn't realize he was lost in the first place."

"You're still young, Barricade." Elizabeth continued gently, "I don't care that you've gone through a war, how many deaths you've seen, maybe even how many you've killed. That doesn't change how young you are, or the fact that the only one holding you responsible for this stuff is yourself. Miles certainly isn't angry at you, and I'm his mother. If anyone had a right to be angry at you, to blame you, it would be me and I don't. My boy cares for you, a lot, and that means you're family, even more than you were before."

Barricade digested this in silence, Bob taking the opportunity to speak now that his wife was finally done with her spiel.

"If you're going to run, I'd do it now. Liz is five seconds away from adopting you as her second son." Bob said, giving half a shrug.

"Too late," Elizabeth grinned, and Barricade blinked up at her in surprise.

"Barricade Lancaster, huh?" Bob made a thoughtful noise. "If he's taking our last name does this mean he's the girl in the relationship?"

"We do not have last names, so it would be impossible for him to take mine." Barricade responded, trying to understand how he'd come to be having this conversation.

It was assuredly the most unusual conversation he'd ever had. Being comforted by the creator femme organic of his… his what? It was very hard to use a word to pin down what Miles was to him. More than just a Charge, more than just a friend, but not a Sparkmate. At least not yet, anyway. He didn't want to use the human term of boyfriend, there'd already been an incident with the couple meaning of that word when Sideswipe had lied to him about it all that time ago, before Miles had meant that much to him. The internet offered a list of terms, but they hardly seemed to help.

"Right." Bob glanced over at Elizabeth and Barricade. "Do I need to tell you to use a condom?"

"Bob!" Elizabeth frowned at her husband, "We can't treat them like a normal gay couple."

"Oh. Does that mean I have to give Barricade the talk?"

Barricade stared up at Elizabeth, and then looked at Bob, completely at a loss of what to say. Primus, this conversation had taken an abrupt turn and a steep dive down a hill. It didn't help that Barricade couldn't bring himself to use his usual snappiness or growls and the like.

"Hey, Barry, Ratch needs you to get rid of your holo before he can let you reboot and get up and move around." Miles said, stepping into the room with Sam following beside him.

"Oh, thank Primus." Barricade muttered, just dissolving his holoform immediately.

"What?" Miles asked, staring at the spot where the ex-con had been in mild conusion.

Elizabeth huffed, "Alien or not, a young male is still a young male. He didn't like our conversation topic."

"Which was?" Sam urged, already liking where this was going.

"I was wondering if he needs to use a condom when you two go at it," Bob replied bluntly, before realizing something. "Wait, can he even get horny in that form?"

"_WHAT?_"

"You'll be better off asking Skyfire, he's done research on it and everything." Sam supplied helpfully, smirking at the horrified look on Miles' face. "I'm sure he'll give you a crash course on Cybertronian sex-ed."

* * *

"I swear to God, Sam, we used to be normal!" Miles let out a long sigh, "Whatever happened to that?"

The two had somehow managed to escape and were in their room, lying on their beds. Sam hadn't realized that he'd be forced to sit through the crash course on Cybertronian sex-ed, because, as Elizabeth put it, he was just as capable to start up a relationship with one of the Cybertronians like Miles did. So Sam had to suffer right along with Miles, Skyfire more than happy to answer any questions Elizabeth and Bob had, like whether there were any STD's, and if Barricade could feel anything satisfying in his holoform. Starscream had been with the larger Seeker, seeming to take a sick satisfaction from seeing the occasional horror on the Sam's and Miles' faces.

Sam's head was pillowed on his arms, just staring up at the ceiling, while Miles took the face down route, careful to not smother his words so he could be understood. Miles was currently lamenting over the fact that they'd just had a crash course in alien sex, missing the days when nothing like that would have ever happened.

"I think it started when you didn't tell me how you felt about Barricade," Sam replied un-helpfully.

"Does it make you feel any better that you were the first person I wanted to talk to after I kissed him?"

Sam thought about that, "I guess I'll take that, at least. So how long have you known?"

"According to Mom she could tell for a while now and I just never really noticed until I actually kissed him," Miles frowned, turning his head to face Sam.

"Well, I do have to admit it's not so much _shocking_ as it was _surprising_ that I hadn't heard you freaking out about it." Sam mentally paused for a moment, glancing over at Miles. "It should be weird to think my best friend might have feelings for an alien robot, but somehow it isn't."

"Yeah? I wouldn't be surprised if you started popping boners for Bee, either." Miles retorted dryly.

"I wouldn't be either, actually…"

"Dude."

"I know."

Both boys groaned in tandem. Miles pushed himself into a sitting position so he could face Sam better, and Sam did much the same thing, both leaning their backs against the wall.

It wasn't like Sam actually had the hots for Bee, or at least not that he'd noticed yet, but it just somehow wouldn't be surprising if he did develop them, like it wasn't surprising when it turned out Miles had. Luckily Sam had some experience in the love department already, while Miles was a complete novice. Sam and Mikaela couldn't have been called serious, but they were in love for a few months. Sam at least had a guess with what it felt like. As far as he knew Miles was going in blind.

"So does this mean you're gay?" Sam asked, and Miles just stared at him for a moment.

"You do remember that Barry isn't a guy, right?"

Sam rolled his eyes, "I mean about his male holo! Do you find it attractive?"

"Er…" Miles wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be going down this road with Sam.

"Well, when you want to kiss him, do you picture yourself kissing that holo?" Sam was persistent.

"That's the only holo he's had," Miles said, before correcting himself. "Well he had that mustache one, but I never actually saw him use it… Bumblebee showed me what the 'stache one looked like and I can tell you there's no way in hell I'd be kissing that."

"Mustaches always did bother you for some reason, though, so that shouldn't count." Sam snickered, "So if that's what you think about when you want to kiss him then obviously you have to at least be attracted to how the holo looks. Would you want Cade with boobs?"

Miles made a face, "I can't picture Barry with a female holoform at all. So I guess I'm attracted to his current one."

"That, at least, doesn't sound as weird as saying you're attracted to a giant robot that turns into a police car." Sam pointed out, snickering once again as Miles tossed him a murderous look. "I'd be teasing you so hard right now, but I'm still mentally traumatized over what Sky told us."

"Thank Primus for small blessings," Miles groaned.

"Does this mean that any police car you see is a turn on?" Sam asked, smirking. "Or should I ask that after you and Barricade have sex? It'd be hilarious if you walked by Prowl and immediately popped a boner."

Miles stared at him in horror, "I hate you."

"I know!" Sam was absolutely cheerful, "Moving on to something a little less sexual, what about kids? Do you think Cade would want to adopt? And even then, what species would it be?"

"Sam, I'm seventeen! You're worse than my mom!"

Sam waved him off, "It's a plausible question. I mean what if all this freaky shit lets you get Barricade sparked?"

"Jesus, that is a horrifying thought." Even as Miles said it he was trying desperately hard not to laugh, "I know it doesn't work this way, but all I can see is Barry on a Medbay berth with Ratchet in between his legs telling him to push!"

"Wheeljack would have to make you something so Barricade could hold your hand, or more likely you, and squeeze without hurting you!"

"Bee'd be stuck doing late night Energon runs because it'd probably be too heavy for me, and you could be the Godmother while he's the Godfather…"

"Elizabeth and Judy freaking out over what the nursery will look like and who gets to be Grandma, even though they'll both end up Grandma. Or… or… God, could you imagine Barricade nesting?"

Miles snorted, "It'd be worse than Swoop!"

"He'd take to collecting the aft plates of whoever pissed him off, so we'd see a lot, and line the nest with them. Then there'd be you, forever trapped because he'd never let you go. There'd be the revolution of the aftless mechs, trying to get their afts back only to turn around and flee in fear of pregnant Barricade."

There was a beat of silence before both teens burst out laughing, Sam hunching forward and clutching his stomach as Miles tried desperately to remain sitting up and be able to keep air in his lungs, both hard tasks. Sam was soon moved on to a curled up position on his bed, holding himself as he laughed.

"There is something wrong with you!" Miles finally chocked out, still laughing. "This is why, even if I had noticed, I never would have told you about Barricade!"

Sam wheezed, "That hurts, man!"

"What, your insane cackling or me saying I'd never tell you?" Miles asked with a grin.

"Both." Sam took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm as he sat up again. "You're right. We used to be normal, whatever happened to that?"

"Sam, meet the Cyber-" Sam cut Miles off by tossing his pillow in his friend's face, making Miles laugh.

"Even _then_, though." Sam sighed, "After Mission City it was pretty easy accepting the Autobots into my sense of normal. Then you came along with Barricade and everything got fucked up."

"You're blaming me?" Miles huffed, tossing the pillow back at Sam. "I don't see how this is my fault!"

"Barricade never would have come to the Autobots if it wasn't for you."

Miles frowned, "Okay, point taken. So your sense of normal and mine had to expand."

"And now our normal is just taking whatever comes at us and accepting it, chalking it up to those crazy robots, and trying to go on with what passes for our lives now."

There was a long silence.

"We died, Sam."

"I know."

"And that's not too surprising either, is it?"

"No, it isn't."

"Be instilled with alien powers, save a Sparkling, drink Energon, die, talk to ancient aliens, come back-"

"-been there, done that, gone around the block twice since." Sam finished, staring at the ceiling while Miles nodded.

"Don't tell anyone, but…" Miles hesitated, "The old dudes told me that I was going to die. Well, actually, it was kind of like they gave me a choice. The energy inside of me could be used to save me from dying, or could somehow fix Starscream. Think it's obvious which door I chose."

"Dude."

"I know."

"Why?"

Miles sighed, "It was a lot less of the self-sacrificing 'Oh, I want Screamer and Sky to be happy!' and a lot more of the holy fuck I'm a human who's in love with a giant alien robot, how the hell is that going to work out? Oh, right, it won't because I'll die in like fifty years and then he'll be left alone. It's going to be like that ending scene in Titanic where it goes through and shows all the pictures of Rose and how she went on and lived her life without Jack, getting married and having children, but still being head over heels for him and not having that nice of a life."

"You're only giving yourself until 67?" Sam asked.

"Well, it's kind of depressing to think of wrinkly me. Like you don't talk about old age with Bee, right?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "Us at 67 is still Bee and 'Cade as young adults. It's probably like 200 fucking years is a year for them, the bastards."

"I actually think they have it worse," Miles said softly, "We'll be dead and they'll be living forever without us."

Another long silence, both boys wondering where their Guardians were now.

"Love, huh?" Sam asked, glancing at Miles.

It took a moment for Miles to realize what Sam was talking about, and then he flushed. "Fuck off."

"Barricade, oh Barricade, where for art thou, Barricade?" Sam teased.

"I'm seriously going to just smother you with a pillow one of these days!" Miles groaned, dropping his head in his hands.

That caused an unexpected silence from Sam, "We died, Miles."

"Yes, we've been over that."

"It kinda makes me wanna…" Sam trailed off, glancing at his best human friend to see if he got it.

"Road trip?" Miles filled in, "Just the two of us?"

"Yeah, get a car, a legit non-sentient car, and just go. Summer will be here in a coupla months, the hardest part would be convincing Barricade and Bumblebee. Then again they'd probably just follow us… but we should really do something just the two of us. Reconnect."

"You're saying we're not connected now?"

Sam shook his head, "Not nearly as much as we used to be, back before Mission City. Partly my fault for being a douche, but then you got Barricade."

"So it's Barricade's fault?"

"You have to admit you've changed a lot since meeting him," Sam retorted, before deciding to include: "And so has he. I've changed, too, but not enough to start poppin' boners for giant alien robots."

"No, just enough that you practically have your own spark filled with Allspark energy from said giant alien robots God, saved a Sparkling from dying, can guzzle Energon like a true mech and survive on it, and then died and came back to life."

Sam shot Miles a sour look, "That we did together. Everything else is Barricade stealing you from me."

"Are you jealous of Barricade?"

"If I was?"

"I'd laugh."

"And if I said I loved you sexually?" Sam asked, waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. Miles snorted, tossing a pillow in his face.

"I'd call you a vagina cleaner and laugh some more, touch my ass though and I'll knock you out."

"I'd like to see you try," Sam snorted.

* * *

"Wait a second, your good night kiss!" Elizabeth called, and Miles obediently stopped, allowing his mom to hug and kiss him, giving her a quick hug and peck back. "Night, baby."

It wasn't actually bedtime, or when they'd usually go to bed at least, but Egypt had screwed up their schedules a bit, and Miles and Sam were tiring quickly, being dead apparently not counting in to the sleep factor. Several of the mechs who had gone to Egypt had crashed already, except for Ratchet, Ironhide, and Soundwave, who were mapping the stars for Perceptor still. Optimus had managed to escape, only to be cornered by Prowl, who ripped him a new one despite the Cosmic Rust. Starscream and Thundercracker had slated their dual for the next day after they'd both rested a bit.

"Goodnight, Mom." Miles smiled.

"Barricade, dear, pick me up." Barricade moved his servo down so Elizabeth could climb on to it, lifting it back up. The mother leaned up and placed a kiss on his faceplates, surprising him, before giving a pat and a grin. "Goodnight to you, too, darling. Now put me back down, please."

Barricade did so, shuttering his optics. "Goodnight, Elizabeth."

"No, goodnight _mom_." Elizabeth corrected, smiling warmly at him.

"Goodnight, Mom." Barricade amended with a grumble. He was a grown mech for pit's sake, he shouldn't have to listen to a tiny organic.

Elizabeth grinned, before walking off humming towards the barracks, while Miles was desperately trying to fight the smile off his face, Barricade turning a glare on him.

"And what are you smiling at?" Barricade growled.

"Oh, nothing… _Darling._" Miles batted his eyelashes, not able to stop a snicker.

"Keep it up and you'll be following your mom to the barracks." It wasn't much of a threat, given that Barricade would prefer Miles sleeping right next to, if not inside, him after his death in Egypt, and Miles knew this.

"Sending me to the couch already?" Miles mock-pouted, "That's cold, Barry. Real cold."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: ** www. lincah 2009 –chevrolet –corvette -gt1 –championship –edition (Motorhead's alt, or just google corvette/2009-chevrolet-corvette-gt1-championship-edition/)  
www. cargurus Cars / 2009 –Dodge – Viper –Pictures –c 21236 _pi 35821989 (Rollerforce's alt, or just google 2009 dodge viper red, and it should come up hopefully.)  
I cheated with the seeker duel. :P

Thanks for the reviews! (_Noella50881, SJSGirl, Nairi44, Firestorm152, SilentPerson, Bookworm Gal, Rhiannon Tien, StarGazingAtMidnight, Iwanita, Lady Quickshift, Just A Chess Piece, CalicoKat35, RatchetsGirl, Ryen Selenity Caliburn, electro moonlight_)

* * *

As excited as Egypt, dying, and coming back sounded, Trent stayed in school until the Friday finished out. Mikaela stayed with him, but as soon as she got into study hall, her last period of the day, she was gone. Trent would have gone with her, except he had a football game that night and an Aunt over who his mother expected him to have a polite and civil family dinner with. He didn't miss out on much, apparently. By the time Mikaela had gotten there the group from Egypt had decided to hit the hay, or at least all the ones she really wanted to talk with. He'd nearly laughed at how pissed she'd sounded on the phone, Wheelie pitching in every now and then. The tiny Decepticon had basically turned into her little purse dog, it was rare for her to go anywhere without him when it wasn't to school.

And now it was his morning run, the best time for him to actually have some time to himself to think. Mikaela had filled him in on everything that had happened, including Barricade and Miles and the cosmic rust. As cool as the Cybertronians were, he had no idea how Miles, Sam, Mikaela, and the soldiers could just be constantly with them. Mikaela had said he was a bit more attached to his "real life" compared to his "sci-fi life", and while he loved the Cybertronians and the soldiers, that was mostly true, if it had anything to do with the war. Have it be a normal day where they were all just pissing around and he was all for it. He got on with all the Cybertronians, but wasn't as close to any of them like Ironhide and Will were, or Bumblebee and Sam. He didn't have a designated Guardian from the bunch, but that didn't really bother him. If anything it helped to cement the separation of his two lives.

Trent groaned, shaking his head to clear it a bit, the motion of it making two lone vehicles catch his eye. They were in the overgrown lot that had once been used as a drive in before it had shut down, and while it wasn't unusual to see a few teens, or even adults, hang out there it was when it was this early in the morning and there was no one in sight. The sun was just barely coming up, not even many other joggers were out.

Both cars were nice, and if there was one thing Trent could appreciate, it was fine cars. He'd always called his truck his baby, and even when Optimus had offered to assign him one of the 'bots as Guardian if Trent wanted, he had refused. His truck really was his baby, figuratively speaking. The only thing that was truly his, football being a shared dream with his dad, school grades being his mother's wishes, and so on and so forth. He had bought that truck, had repaired that truck, had repainted her and then buffed her until she shone. She was now worth over half as much as when he had originally bought her, and yes, Trent referred to his baby as a she. Or he did before the Autobots anyway, now it made him feel a bit awkward and paranoid that it really would turn into a 'she'. And then being around the Cybertronians just got you used to being in one huge fucking car show. The only ones who didn't go for looks were Ratchet, Barricade, Prowl, and Wheeljack, as far as he could tell. Even Optimus looked damn good in his alt mode.

One car was a 2009 canary yellow Chevrolet Corvette, the only thing offsetting the yellow being the stripe of grey down the middle. The other vehicle was a 2009 Dodge Viper SRT10 convertible, a mostly red frame with a decal of black to make it interesting. The top was up.

"-first priority is to find Commander Barricade." A voice drifted out to Trent, coming from the red vehicle. It nearly made Trent stop mid-jog, but he knew he had to check it out. So he switched course a bit, circling around the two cars as if he was making a loop around them to head back the way he came, checking for any signs of organic life inside the vehicles, or any insignias. He spotted to clear ones on the fake license plates. Decepticons. Just perfect, though they had used Barricade's name…

The red one must have caught Trent looking because he then whispered to his yellow companion, "Is this organic checking out your aft?"

"You two are new here, I take it?" Trent asked quickly after that, not wanting the red one to think that any longer or the yellow one to start thinking it.

The yellow one appeared startled, body visibly twitching when addressed by an organic, and the red one shifted on his shocks warily. Both were silent for a long moment, Trent making his way to stand in front of them so they could watch him clearly and ascertain that he was no threat. Not like they probably thought he was, but then again Blaster had been ready to blow him a new one when he had been ready to kick the Autobot's boom box alt mode into the lake. Finally the yellow one spoke up.

"We are!" He said cheerfully, "How did you know?"

"Well," Trent said slowly, "You two are talking out loud to each other instead of through comms. Your presence here is kept a secret to most of us organics. I know, so I checked for the insignia which you have on your license plates, but generally if people hear you they'll think you're possessed and attempt to offline you."

"I told you we should be talking through comms," The red one growled, making the yellow one lower on his shocks. "Organic squishy, we have not been long here. We attempted to join up with the Decepticons, but were quickly informed that our teammates were here, but not with them. We look for our Commander, designation of Barricade, and our Medic, designation of Groundhog."

"Yeah, heard that bit." Trent grinned, "But before we get on to that let's be polite and do introductions, yeah? I'm Trent DeMarco, but you two can just call me Trent.

"I'm Motorhead," The yellow Corvette said, rolling forward a few feet.

The red Viper vented sharply, "I am Rollerforce."

"I know where Barricade and Groundhog are," Trent stretched his arms above his head, yawning. "They're at the Autobot base with some other used to be Decepticons."

"Barricade sided with Autobots?" Rollerforce laughed, "Get real, squishy."

"Being as real as I can be right now." Trent replied dryly, "Barricade, Groundhog, Soundwave, Soundwave's cassetticons, Wheelie, and now Starscream and two other seekers I don't remember the name of are on the Autobot base."

"_Starscream_ is with the Autobots?" Motorhead asked in awe, "How did that happen?"

"Well, if what 'Kaela told me is right, Miles."

"Miles?"

"Another organic, the one I'm going to be blaming you two on." Trent smirked slightly, "Come on, I'll grab my stuff from home and my truck and lead you guys there. Diplomatic immunity or some shit for you two as long as you don't start shooting at anybody, I think, and I'll explain more on the way."

"Your vehicle is non-sentient?" Rollerforce asked, and at Trent's nod picked up an obvious sneer. "Forget it; you can ride in one of us."

"If it's all the same to you, I'm going in my truck."

Rollerforce snorted, "Your primitive Earth vehicle is nothing compared to us. We'll give you the honor of riding in one of us as thanks for taking us to our Commander and Medic. Trust me when I say we are a much better upgrade from you 'truck'."

"The _hell_ you are!"

* * *

Prowl could hardly believe his optics as he took in the sight of the three vehicles and one lone organic. One vehicle he easily recognized as Trent's truck, the organic it belonged to sitting on top of the truck with a small smirk and waving in a mock polite manner. The other two were Decepticons. _More_ Decepticons. If nothing else, Prowl could be thankful that Trent had thought to stop them before they hit the perimeter alarms and set them off, even calling in and specifically telling Will to tell Prowl that they had two visitors requesting to see some of the Decepticons on base.

For a moment, he mildly contemplated just grabbing one of the soldiers, probably Graham as the British man was the calmest of the bunch he knew, and just going, claiming it was a secret mission, when really it was a much needed break. He wasn't sure how much more his spark could take of all of these Decepticons turning up with all these organic underfoot, especially not now that Optimus was infected with one of the deadliest diseases that could possibly infect a Cybertronian.

Prowl stared down at the two Decepticons, who had remained in alt mode, with a blank expression. He hadn't come alone, though. If he had to deal with Decepticons then he was using an ex-con to do so, and that would be why Soundwave was there, Ravage sitting lazily down at their peds. Miles stood near the cat mech, Ravage having said something along the lines of the teen needing to check out who was trying to challenge him at his claim on being the one to bring all the Decepticons over to the good side, no matter how inadvertently, and not counting Wheelie because that mech was on the side where he could live and be happy, and with his Warrior Goddess, of course. And if Miles was going then of course Barricade was, the ex-con unwilling to let the teen out of his sight, especially with a pair of Decepticons he didn't know.

"Ha, can't blame these on me!"

"Actually," Trent slid off the hood of his truck, smirk growing. "These two are here for Barricade and Groundhog. You brought Barricade, therefore you brought them."

"…Fuck you and your logic."

"Hear you'd rather fuck Barricade, now."

"_What_?" Motorhead and Rollerforce cried in unison, both transforming to their bipedal modes immediately, looking between their Commander and Miles. Barricade picked the teen up without even thinking about it in response to this, this confirming easier than what words would have done to his teammates.

"You're with an organic?" Rollerforce demaned.

"Is he a good socket or something?" Motorhead asked, slightly bitterly.

Trent walked over to the Barricade, Prowl, and Soundwave, standing at their peds and being thoroughly ignored as Barricade made an angry gesture, the group diverting into Cybertronian. Unlike the wonder team, what he privately called Sam, Miles, Epps, and Will, he had no alien-God given powers that helped him understand the alien language.

"Is it just me, or does somemech sound a little bitter?" Trent asked Ravage, the only one who appeared disinterested in the conversation happening overhead. He did make sure to ask it quietly, doubting they'd pay attention to him, but being stepped on would not make his morning.

Ravage flicked his tail in amusement, "Motorhead had a 'crush' on his Commander for quite a while. Still might, from the sounds of it. Or it could just be the fact that Barricade never returned the interest towards him, or any mech or femme that he knew of, and is now with an organic."

* * *

Groundhog, Barricade, Rollerforce, and Motorhead made up the Race Track Patrol team, but it had only been about fifty earth years since he had gotten separated from them, while Barricade had been gone for a lot longer. So he'd politely backed off to let the three reconnect, and that way he didn't have to deal with the grilling that Barricade was now getting. Barricade was giving them a nice ten minutes of answering the questions as a kind of welcome back present, though that had ended, and he'd just managed to escape as Barricade had finally exploded at the two.

"So Motorhead likes Barricade?" Miles asked, sitting down beside Groundhog as the ex-con took a moment to get some Energon.

"Figured that one out quickly," Groundhog said, confirming it without really saying yes.

"Kind of easy with all the hate vibes rolling off him, but I guess it would be kind of a big blow that you lost your love interest to something you saw as beneath your species." Miles snorted, because that was the only thing he could find to like about the situation.

"Mm," Groundhog replied, and the two were silent for a moment. Groundhog finished off his cube, feeling slightly bad for the organic. Motorhead was one of the nicest Decepticons he knew… as long as you weren't on his bad side, and Miles was definitely on his bad side. "I guess I should thank you."

"Yeah?" Miles asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Love triangle of the cosmos, my friend. Rollerforce likes Motorhead, Motorhead likes Barricade, and Barricade likes Rollerforce. Then there's me, stuck in the middle of three mechs with the equivalent of blue balls. Except Barricade likes _you_, meaning that it's possibly just two mechs with blue balls, and an infinitely easier time had by me. Next best story that's gonna be written on the website, guarantee it."

Miles stared at Groundhog for a minute, before snorting. The statement was so ridiculous it was fairly obvious the mech was trying to cheer him up a little. It wasn't exactly comforting to realize that Motorhead disliked him, because Motorhead was a giant alien robot who could possibly kill him with an accidental flick, much less if he actually decided to do something on purpose. Plus it was just so awkward. He wanted to be nice and let Barricade catch up with old friends, but the fact that one of those friends liked Barricade like that… well, that took a little more niceness.

"Gotta thank Trent, too." Groundhog continued, "He's pissing 'Force off just enough that he's not making fun of Motorhead for whatever mooning he's doing."

"Yeah, what's up with that anyway?"

"Apparently Rollerforce doesn't understand how Trent could prefer primitive means of transportation, aka his truck, to the ride that had been offered him inside of one of the two. And Trent's found at least fifty things to insult 'Force on about his alt mode, and counting from the last I bothered to listen to Rollerforce's rant."

"Trent always has been spectacularly good at insults. It's nice he gets to use them on someone again, he's been trying so hard to play nice to me and Sam." Which just so happened to be exactly why both he and Sam tended to try to annoy the jock as much as they could, Trent trying to make amends for whatever he'd done to them in the past by not getting angry and yelling at stupid things like he might someone else.

"I think Trent forgets that we have other ways of getting to him outside of physical pains. I believe I heard Rollerforce planning to scan the truck and transform down into it and surprise Trent that way."

"I would _pay_ to see Trent's face. He's got no idea what it's like to have your very own 'con."

* * *

It was time for his and Thundercracker's little duel. Starscream was torn between being worried and not, because he knew that while Thundercracker had the upper hand strength wise, Starscream was smarter.

When it came to his trine they each brought something one of the others couldn't. Skywarp was all about surprise, no mech or femme knowing where he could pop to next, or what his mood would be like and what he'd do because of it. He was the wild card. Thundercracker was Skywarp's voice of reason, for whenever Starscream couldn't pull the trine leader card and get the normally hyperactive Seeker to behave that way, but he was also Starscream's, too. Normally calm with a thunderous anger, one that was rearing it's head now and making him challenge Starscream in the first place, Thundercracker was the brawn of the group. Starscream was the fastest out of the group, if Skywarp's warping abilities weren't counted, and the smartest, too.

But he had failings, Thundercracker there when he thought he could take on more than he really could, or helping patch him back together after several bad words with Megatron. And Skywarp helped Starscream to actually live a little, stuck as he was in his own programming by Shockwave, and the other seeker was always willing to lend an audial for whenever Starscream wanted to complain. Even if all he could manage to complain about was Megatron and how much he hated him, the act of insubordinance ingrained into his spark until he could bring himself to hate the Decepticon leader and wish his death even with Shockwave trying to keep him under control. Shockwave hadn't been able to do much, just enough to ensure that Starscream would stay with the Decepticons. Starscream's personality had been his own, albeit anger at being controlled making him a tad more violent and uncaring in his actions then he would have been, seeing as he would have been forced to follow the instructions if he did not do it 'willingly', and there was no way in the pit that Starscream would let himself turn into nothing more than a mindless drone.

He was fairly surprised that Skywarp had managed to work it out, but the smaller seeker had always been more perceptive than Starscream tended to give him credit for. Starscream was almost certain that Skywarp would be more than happy to stay with the Autobots, but if it came down to it and Thundercracker won he would respect it and leave with his mate.

Starscream was just nearing what Skyfire had told him was Barricade's hangar when he saw Miles sitting outside of the half open door, just out of sight. The Seeker raised an eyebrow, deciding Thundercracker could wait a few minutes.

He knew fully well what Miles had done for him; he figured he could try to be decent towards the teen. Skyfire had informed him that it had been Barricade who had killed Shockwave, and while he was more than happy that the scientist was dead, there was no way he was going to be grateful towards that ground pounder.

"What are you doing?" Starscream asked, picking the teen up without even bothering to ask if it was okay.

"Oh, hey, Starscream." Miles grinned at him, not bothering to complain. He was used to being manhandled; it almost came with the territory depending on the Cybertronian. "Barry and Groundhog are in there reminiscing with the newcomers, but I don't think they like me very much, especially the yellow one, so I'm stuck eavesdropping. And I forgot my phone in there, so I have an excuse just in case."

"How quaint." Starscream smirked, "No idea what you see in a filthy ground pounder, but I am indebted to you, so I might as well place nice.

"_Indebted_ to me?"

"Yes, which is why you will have the honor of being inside me while Thundercracker and I duel."

"…I'm not sure how safe that sounds."

"You'll be perfectly safe, trust me."

"I'm not sure how safe _that_ sounds."

* * *

Seekers didn't need to be in their alt mode to fly, but for the sake of their duel, and the fact that Starscream had Miles in his cockpit, they stayed in them throughout the whole battle. Miles had been expecting something completely different than what the 'battle' had turned out to be. It was basically one huge flight off, the two trying to out fly each other in fancy maneuvers, occasionally banging up against each other. Seekers had long standing traditions, and even with the new age of Cybertron where past traditions where being left behind, Seekers especially hung on to theirs, as well as certain cities. The main difference between Seekers and every mech and femme else, their wings, their flying, is what most of these traditions were based on.

Which was why when Miles had expected an actual physical fight, it had been a bit flightier than he had imagined, literally. He'd been too busy trying his hardest not to open his mouth and scream, because rollercoasters had nothing on Seekers, to ask at the time why it was more fancy flight show and less of the duel he'd been expecting. But even he had somehow caught on, Starscream coming out victorious after nearly an hour in the air.

From what little he had been able to make sense of direction wise, they had left base, which wasn't too surprising. He doubted either Seeker wanted Autobots watching them, the loser doubly so, nor would the Autobots want two Seekers flying wildly overhead. Skywarp followed, but stayed a respectful distance back to let the two have plenty of room.

An hour of flips, dives, rises, turns, and rough bumps later; Miles was more than thankful he hadn't ate anything yet that day and that they were finally coming to a stop, Starscream transforming half way towards the ground and then setting Miles down on it. Miles stood absolutely still, not trusting that if he moved he'd be able to move how he wanted, only mildly realizing that Skywarp came up and landed slightly behind them, staring pointedly at the grond.

"Not that that wasn't cool and everything, I really enjoyed it and all, but I just kind of thought that it would be, y'know, a legit fight. Not flying around each other in circles." Miles commented finally.

Thundercracker sneered down at Miles, "We wouldn't expect a simple pleasure drone to understand seeker heritage."

"Pleasure drone?" Miles echoed slowly, disbelief evident in his tone. "I am not a whore you stupid oversized peacock!"

"_Peacock?_" Thundercracker had to take a moment to look up what exactly that was, wings hitching up in anger as soon as he found out. "I am not some lowly earth fowl!"

"Awe, 'Cracker, leave the little organic alone, you insulted him first!" Skywarp picked Miles up, smiling down at the boy. "I think you'd be the best peacock ever!"

Starscream rolled his optics, "We could hardly shoot at each other, I don't want to have to deal with any hissy fits from Prowl, or Primus forbid something ricochets and scratches Sunstreaker's paint. Nor could we just stay around there to carry out the challenge."

"Well, yeah, I guess. You probably would have startled the Dinobots too."

"Are those the things where one of them dropped on Megatron's helm?" Skywarp asked, setting Miles down again.

"Yeah, that was Grimlock. There's also Sw-" Miles cut himself off, finally bothering to glance around and mouth dropping open.

"I can't believe they're actually counted as Autobots and allowed to fight," Thundercracker muttered, before noticing the teen's expression. "What?"

"I think he's looking at that really big hole in the ground!" Skywarp went over and bent at his knee joints, peering down into the giant chasm. Miles was a safe distance back, staring at the scenery, just beginning to realize he didn't have his phone and he was stuck out here with three 'cons.

"We need to go back, now."

"Why?" Skywarp whined, "This place looks really cool! I want to explore!"

"The web says this is something called the Grand Canyon, a tourist attraction. A water source eroded away all the land and created these walls. There's still parts of it down at the bottom." Thundercracker told his mate, peering down with him.

"There's water all the way down there? Oh, I see it now! Let's check it out, 'Cracker!"

"You can't just go and explore an organic tourist attraction!" Starscream growled, but he was ignored in favor of jumping right into it. Thundercracker immediately followed to try and retrieve his mate before they were spotted, and Starscream vented sharply in disbelief. He transformed down into his alt mode, "_I _at least will try to be less inconspicuous."

Miles looked at the Seeker, taking in the sleek alt F22 raptor. Less inconspicuous. _Right_. He somehow got the feeling that the Seekers, all four of them, were just going to become one giant headache.

"I really hate Seekers."

* * *

"_Five_ new Decepticons in two days. Can you believe this?"  
"It's supposed to be the Autobot base. Last time I checked there's no fraggin' 'con in there."  
"Try to be reasonable, we all used to be one, why can't we be one again?"  
"We were never one, that's why the war started. Autobots and Decepticons have always been different."  
"What about Barricade, then? He's as much of an Autobot as you or m-"  
"No, he is not. None of them are Autobots."  
"Optimus is a fool if he thinks them playing nice with some stupid organics means anything. Once a 'con always a 'con."  
"Those organics have the will of Primus on their side, I'd be respectful."  
"So _they_ say. And 'they' are the ones who have us stuck with those slagging pit spawned wingers."  
"Just wait 'till Bluestreak and the rest get here. It won't just be us upset anymore. We can actually do something about it."  
"Just what do you think that something is going to be? Mechs like _you_ couldn't believe we could change as a people, that we could unite to bring back the Golden Age of Cybertron, make our planet beautiful again. Close-mindedness is one of the exact reasons our war started."  
"What the slag is that supposed to mean?"  
"It means I'd love to see what you plan to do about the mechs you're complaining about. Optimus might not be on strict orders from Ratchet to not do anything resembling battle, but even _Prowl_ will vouch for them. Or at least the older ones."  
"We'll see."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Thanks for the reviews. Enjoy this new chapter! And yes, I enjoy the thought of Red Alert and Mason being bestest buddies evar. Some minor smexings, but I don't get too involved, so use your imagination if you really want.

* * *

Red Alert walked briskly, keeping an eye on the canine currently running ahead of him. Dogs were one of his favorite earth creatures, if not the favorite. Humans were nice, but the Security Director already had enough craziness to deal with when it came to his Autobots, he didn't need to worry about a smaller organic kind of craziness. The dog helped calm him sometimes, even just by being there, and he'd actually started using his holographic projector even to just pet the dog.

He'd done some research and found out that pets had a naturally calming effect on humans, and it seemed that the Mastiff could have one on him, as well. Mason was wonderfully predictable, something Red Alert love, and the Security Director had even figured out around what times the Mastiff would need to use the bathroom. His research had shown that pets seemed to be able to hone in to their owner's emotions, and he'd never expected the Mastiff to be able to tell his, the dog had eventually managed to figure out some of it, which pleased Red Alert even more. He'd had to deal with both sets of twins less and less because Mason had taken to barking and growling at them, even going under their peds, when they took to 'playing' with Red Alert. Both sets were terrified of stepping on the dog, though whether this was over Miles' or Elizabeth's reaction, or what Barricade would do to them because his organics were upset, Red Alert wasn't sure.

He was going to Wheeljack's lab, one of his most hated parts of the week. After so many explosions it was evident that a pair of outside optics needed to come in to say what looked safe and what sounded sound, and who bet than a Security Director? Even after all this time Wheeljack could still surprise him, and it had only gotten worse now that the Inventor had Skyfire to scheme with. It was rare that he ever left the lab completely happy with what he'd seen, though the times where he'd just shorted out as soon as he had entered had gotten fewer and farer in between. Skyfire might have encouraged Wheeljack, but he was also a naturally safe mech, which balanced out most of Wheeljack's careless tendencies.

Satisfied that Mason didn't have the urge to run around wildly to use up some energy, Red Alert focused on the data pad he was carrying. Putting in a certain code let him have access to the private camera feeds he'd set up for Wheeljack's lab, and although he could see the building clearly and was less than two minutes away, he didn't want any unfortunate surprises. He'd entered just as a machine had gone wrong before and had been out for a week because of it, not something he was looking forward to.

"Oh, look." Red Alert knew, of course, that even though Mason understood a few English words, like sit or dinner, he would have no actual idea what he was saying, it was still nice to talk to the canine every now and then. "Miles appears to be in there."

He could add Miles to the list of words that Mason knew if the way the dog barked happily was any indication. That now made about twenty, which was impressive. The canine was nowhere near as smart as a human, had no chance of getting close to a Cybertronian, but Red Alert found him undeniably enjoyable none the less.

Red Alert grinned down at the happy canine, though his joy quickly disappeared when he heard Skyfire shout to turn it off. That couldn't be a good sign, and thirty seconds later there was a loud rumble that startled Mason and shook the ground under his peds. This was followed by a loud bang, and the lab being torn apart by an explosion. Red Alert barely had time to grab Mason up and enclose the dog safely in his servos before he was knocked flat by the same wave of power that had caused the lab's destruction in the first place.

_**:Call to all mechs! Explosion at the lab, Miles was in there! I repeat, organic caught in the rubble!:**_

Red Alert vented sharply as he sent the base wide communication, sitting up slowly. He slowly opened his servos, relieved to see a scared and whimpering, but whole, Mastiff. He scanned the dog quickly, satisfying himself that the canine wasn't hurt, before putting him down and hurrying over to dig in the rubble.

* * *

Motorhead and Rollerforce stood together, talking through a private comm link as they watched several mechs attempt to clear away the rubble of the lab to get at who had been inside. Motorhead might have helped, but he would have gotten in the way more than actually helped, Autobots already surrounding the rubble. And Barricade, there next to Bumblebee. It looked like the Scout was even attempting to calm their old commander down, to no avail, though.

_**:Well,:**_ Rollerforce tilted his helm to indicate their old team leader, _**:If he's this freaked out we can know for sure that he really does care for the organic.:**_

Motorhead sent the older mech a glare. He really was normally a happy and joyful mech, but it was kind of a blow to find out your old love interest, who had never given him the time of day besides what he gave the rest of the team, suddenly enthralled with an organic. He was over Barricade, had been for a while now, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. Stupid organics.

_**:Can't last long. Little squishy is either dead now, won't last long due to injuries, or will die in just a few of these Earth decades, anyway.: **_Motorhead vented, knowing he was dangerously close to sounding like a petulant sparkling who's favorite toy had been taking away, and that would just get Rollerforce mad at him. _**:And even if he does care for the little insect, that doesn't mean they'll be able to bond.:**_

_**:They already did bond, once.: **_Rollerforce informed without thinking, _**:Remember Barricade telling us how close Shockwave had come to offlining him? Groundhog said the only thing that kept him there was Miles forming a bond with him.:**_

_**:WHAT?:**_

Rollerforce regretted telling Motorhead this little tidbit, processor ringing from the volume the yellow mech had used. _**:Yeah, but it broke in Egypt when the organic died.:**_

_**:Well, isn't that just wonderful? We can bond with freaky little Primus blessed organ-: **_Motorhead cut himself off, knowing he really did sound petulant now and not caring, instead noticing something else that caught his attention. He shuttered his optics and looked at Rollerforce to make sure he wasn't seeing things. _**:Isn't that the Seeker trine with the organic who's supposed to be under the rubble?:**_

_**:You noticed too, huh?:**_ Rollerforce had caught sight of them flying in when they had forced walked over, doing a customary scan and finding Miles' unique organic signature inside of Starscream.

_**:You noticed! Why didn't you say anything?:**_

_**:It's funny as hell to see the Autodolts scurrying around like ants, even funnier when Barricade's with them.: **_Rollerforce shrugged, _**:Besides, I thought they'd notice them eventually. You know how Barricade is with Starscream.:**_

Motorhead was torn between irritation and humor, not all that surprised by Rollerforce's decision not to say anything. Out of the two of them, Motorhead was a lot more kind. If anything Rollerforce was Barricade's Starscream, always trying to outdo their Commander and thinking he was better, though unlike Starscream and Megatron, Barricade and Rollerforce were actually friends at the end of the day.

"Mechs?" Motorhead called, ignoring the amused look Rollerforce tossed him. "I don't think we have to worry about the ins-organic. He's over there with the trine. It must have been a holograph."

The resulting pause in work as all mechs turned to confirm this was short lived, most of them returning to trying to free the two scientists under the rubble, and only Barricade and Bumblebee actually stopping. Barricade because he was pissed, and Bumblebee because he knew Barricade was pissed and that it probably wasn't going to be a friendly welcome back from wherever he'd been for Miles.

"I'm going to _kill_ him." Barricade growled, stalking to where he could see Miles and Starscream heading inside his hangar.

"Barricade, no!" Bumblebee scrambled up and chased after the ex-con, hurrying to try and cut him off.

* * *

Miles was so relieved to be back on base and away from the 'really big hole in the ground', as Skywarp had called it, that he could have cried. Starscream decided to stick with him while Skywarp and Thundercracker decided to go and discretely explore, though somehow Miles could only see that ending in a minor government cover up and tax payer money going to buying people's silence.

He'd never managed to get his phone, and seeing as Barricade was no longer in his hangar, he decided to do so now. Miles didn't need to go and check to see where his ex-con was, either, because on the way in they'd all seen the ruins of what had once been the lab, and the mechs working on it. He'd been a bit surprised to see Barricade not just standing and watching, but he figured Bumblebee must have roped him in to helping.

Miles led Starscream to the hangar, the Seeker having to bend a little to fit in, but he was fine once they were inside. Some of the soldiers had been nice enough to set up a little sleeping area for Miles whenever he wasn't sleeping in his and Sam's room, and that was where he kept most of his stuff now, seeing as Barricade would have no interest in borrowing any of it like Sam did.

He heard Barricade and Bumblebee enter, but didn't greet them right away, trying to reach his phone, which had somehow fallen under his bed.

"Where the pit have you been?" Barricade snarled, and Miles blinked up at him in surprise, slipping his phone into his pocket. The teen was sure he hadn't done anything to precedent getting snarled at like that today, and he glanced around in a somewhat helpless manner, wondering what he was missing. Surely someone or mech had to have known that he was off with the trine.

Starscream sneered at him, cutting Miles off before the teen could speak. "Someone had to take care of the poor organic while you were busy with your little reunion. If you had been smart enough to send out a comm Skyfire would have been more than happy to tell you where Miles was."

"Actually," Bumblebee stepped in before Barricade could snap anything, "Skyfire is the one buried under the lab, with Wheeljack. Red Alert had been coming to do his weekly checkup of Wheeljack's lab when it happened, and he thought he saw Miles in there with them."

"Oh," Starscream glanced out the door of the hangar with a new look, slightly concerned. "Skyfire had his holoform preset to look like Miles."

"What?" Miles asked, confused. "Why? He had his own holo look."

"To help Thundercracker and Skywarp get used to organics he took on an organic form, yours. He probably never thought to change it back. You, outside of Samuel, were the only organic we actually knew, and well… Even I needed some help learning human limitations, that way I don't kill you again and again whenever I pick you up."

"Appreciated," Miles said dryly. At least now the teen knew why he was in trouble with Barricade, though he couldn't be very happy about it. Maybe now the ex-con could calm down, and Miles grinned at him. "Well, it wasn't me, so no worries, right? All we gotta do is dig up Skyfire and Wheeljack now."

Barricade glared at him, and Bumblebee looked from mech to organic with a frown. The Scout decided it was safer to suggest that he and Starscream aid in the excavation instead of sticking around to see what would happen, and both quickly left. Miles took out his phone again, finally bothering to glance at all the messages. Mainly text messages, the latter group of them asking where he was, obviously either because he hadn't been on base for most of the day or because of the lab exploding again.

"That still doesn't explain why you were with the _Seekers_." Barricade finally said, spitting out the word Seekers.

"Starscream invited me along so I went, what's wrong with that?" Miles asked, frowning up at the ex-con

Barricade growled, and decided to switch tactics. "Why did you go so far away?"

"I wasn't driving 'em!" Miles ground out exasperatedly, "They just went!"

"You should have stayed here, Megatron's not dead yet and there's still more Decepticons."

"And do _what_? You were busy with your friends, and I couldn't bother you or them because two of them don't like me very much!"

"That doesn't mean you go frolicking around with those Seekers!"

"What is with you and Seekers?" Miles cried, "Skyfire's one of them so I know you don't think all of them are bad, and these three just joined our side!"

"Just because they joined the Autobot cause does not mean you can trust them!" Barricade snarled, and Miles half felt like ripping his hair out.

The teen had a perfect retort on the tip of his tongue, something along the lines of if that were true then he couldn't trust Barricade either, but he kept it there, quickly weighing his options. Miles didn't know how to deal with a Barricade who was slowly becoming more and more protective of him. Back in Wheeljack's lab with Skyfire getting the virus it had been evident that Barricade was afraid of losing him, and then dying in Egypt had shown the ex-con the reality of it, and the teen knew that if he had been in Barricade's peds, then he certainly would have amped it up a bit more. So Miles had been expecting it to a certain extent, but that didn't make it any less annoying to deal with. Especially when everything always seemed to end in anger with Barricade, which led to a fight.

He wasn't in the mood to fight with the mech and then end up ignoring him for a week. He tried to find something to quickly diffuse the fight, but nothing he thought of would do any good, so he did something else to end it. He turned on his heel and walked away. Or, he tried to, anyway. He got about three steps before a pair of arms were wrapping around him and pulling him close, something unusual and not at the same time.

"I just don't want to lose you again."

Well, there went any anger. He'd only really been annoyed in the first place and not in the mood to deal with it, and Barricade had to go and get mushy on him. That was so totally unfair, because the mech was rarely if ever mushy and it always managed to catch Miles by surprise when he was so blatant about it.

"You're going to give yourself a spark attack if you keep worrying so much, Barry." Miles sighed, leaning back into the embrace a bit.

"Prowl or Ratchet will go first."

"Sure, sure. Maybe we should try getting the bond again that way you at least have a better guess at whatever's going on with me." The teen paused, "Not counting when I freak over a dream."

Barricade snorted lightly, and Miles rolled his eyes, slipping out of the holoform's arms.

"Lay down and open up," Miles waggled his fingers playfully, "Skyfire told me how to work some magic."

Barricade listened and dissolved his holoform; assuming the teen meant Skyfire had told him what to do in a normal manner. He was a little surprised, then, when Miles moved his hand a certain way and pleasure flooded him. He vented sharply, finding the teen smirking at him, and growled in response, activating his holoform again.

* * *

"Ow!" Miles squirmed in Barricade's grip, hand momentarily pausing in the mech's spark chamber. "Did you just bite me?"

"Yes." Barricade's voice was slightly strained, the mech having to make more of a conscious effort to talk through his holoform into Miles' ear instead of through his real body, never mind that the teen would be able to hear him either way. "Elizabeth insisted that I have some know how when it came to this, so she showed me some videos."

"You watched porn with my _mother_?" Miles asked in disbelief, hand stopping completely now. The mother part was just all kinds of no.

Barricade snarled lightly, effectively distracting Miles from the disturbing tidbit of information by slipping a hand in between the teen's legs.

* * *

Miles walked over to join Sam, Mikaela, Trent, and Epps. His experiment had been wholly successful and enjoyed by both participating parties. He was actually sort of happy for Skyfire's sex ed, though he would never tell the Scientist that. There was a lot less for him to figure out on his end, though he had been surprised that Barricade had been subjected to watching videos when he could just google everything in under a minute. Not that he was going to complain about either of those things, seeing as Barricade was Barricade and gave as good as he got, be it witty banter, fighting, or matters in the bedroom.

Trent was in his beloved truck, window down and head out of it to talk to the others. Sam and Epps were loading in buckets of water, sponges, and soaps and waxes of various kinds. The Grand Canyon had been unkind to Skywarp and Thundercracker, mainly because instead of flying Skywarp had tried to scale the side of one of the cliffs and Thundercracker had tried to retrieve him.

Miles wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but he'd already promised Skywarp yesterday after returning that he'd help give them all a special organic wash, to try to get Thundercracker happier with his current predicament. Except now he was dead tired, already planning on sneaking off to go sleep somewhere. He didn't want to sleep in Barricade's hangar as it would be odd without the mech there, but if he slept in his and Sam's room he was a lot more likely to be disturbed.

Miles paused in his debate of where to take a nap when he got to Mikaela's side, eyeing up Trent's truck in memory of what Groundhog had told him. If Rollerforce had scanned his truck and transformed down into it he couldn't wait to see Trent's face, the angry and surprised one. But while he was looking at Trent and his truck, Mikaela was looking at him, and Miles eventually turned to raise an eyebrow at her. He really didn't like that smirk or the gleam in her eyes, but Sam started talking before she did.

"Dude, where the hell have you been? I haven't seen you since yesterday!"

Miles offered a tired half shrug, "Around."

"I was starting to think Barricade had finally had enough and accidentally sat on you," Sam grinned, "Red thought he saw you with Jackie and Sky. Hope he wasn't too pissed that you were okay."

"Nah, we're go-"

"Oh my God, you totally had kinky robot sex!" Mikaela said, dangerously close to squealing.

"How the hell do you know?" Miles gaped while Sam and Epps froze in their work. He'd been trying to act nonchalant _and_ avoid any and all questions. Both had failed, apparently.

"Well, you didn't deny it just now. In fact you confirmed it," Mikaela pointed out, grinning. "And you have a bite mark on your neck."

"What?" Mikaela brought out a pocket mirror and showed Miles, and he growled. "Slag him! How the hell do I explain this to my parents?"

"Say you had kinky robot sex," Mikaela offered none too helpfully, smirking.

"Can we please not call it kinky robot sex?" Sam groaned, and Miles nodded a bit. "Why the hell did he bite you, though?"

"Apparently he watched porn. With my _mother_." Miles deadpanned, and Sam looked as horrified as he had felt when Barricade had told him. Or would have felt had the situation been different.

"So was it just his holoform, then?" Mikaela asked, "Is Barricade as dead on his fe-peds as you are?"

"No…" Miles knew he'd regret it, but it was better than her bothering Barricade to find out. He wasn't sure if the mech would just ignore her, be honest, or come up with something crazy. "Holoform and mech body."

"So it was kinky robot sex!"

"I think even with the holoforms it would be kinky," Trent said offhandedly.

"Stop encouraging her, DeMarco!" Miles groaned while Mikaela beamed at Trent.

Trent smirked, "Nah, I'm good."

"Trent's just upset because he's gotten his very own 'con now," Sam said, putting on an innocent look when Trent sent him a withering stare. "Pretty soon they're gonna be fucking just like you and 'Cade."

Miles, Sam, and Mikaela burst out laughing at the look on Trent's face, up until Trent got out of his truck and started chasing Sam around. Epps rolled his eyes, the only one bothering to work anymore, though he'd not complain over the teens having fun, especially not after Egypt. And even he was laughing when Trent finally caught Sam and held him in a headlock, giving him a noogie.

"Alright, brats. Playtime's over, you gotta go wash you some Seekers now. Maybe after Trent can go on a double date with his mech, Miles, and Barricade."

"I bet I could kick your ass…" Trent mumbled, glaring at Epps.

"Do that after you finish washing the Seekers." Epps mock saluted, "See ya later!"

"Epps! You're supposed to help!"


End file.
